SHoP Architects’ skinny New York tower

SHoP Architects’ skinny New York tower
Photos taken by Andrew Campbell Nelson show the residential tower as construction completes on its third setback – one of a series designed by New York firm SHoP to gradually narrow the already svelte structure towards the top.The milestone means that 111 West 57th has surpassed a height of 984 feet (300 metres) Located on a plot that is just 43 feet (13 metres) wide, the tower is set to rise to 1,421 feet (433 metres) tall. This creates a height-to-width ratio of 24:1, making it the world’s skinniest skyscraper.
Strips of the terracotta tiles that alternate with windows and curving golden frames are fitted to nearly halfway up the skyscraper’s east and west facades.
Once the undisputed leader in producing buildings of that type, the city has fallen far behind. There’s little hope of ever matching the heights reached regularly now overseas, and even the city’s contender for Tallest Building in the Nation—the recently structurally complete One World Trade Center—is unlikely to overtop its rival in Chicago since its transmission tower was stripped of its planned white radome by some cost-cutting chicanery.
Given the preponderance of narrow building sites on the Manhattan grid—the default dimensions of a typical lot are only 25 by 100 feet—perhaps this will become a new mark for the city’s developers to shoot for (if not aspire to). Indeed, another very slender tower has already been proposed for a site down the street at 217 West 57th. Will New York become a city of Skinny Minnies, the fat trunks of eras past surrounded by a fresh field of tall reeds? It could be quite beautiful. Particularly if other aspects of the SHoP design are taken to heart.
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The north and south sides will be almost entirely glazed, for views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline.
But the pieces have been left off intentionally, according to one of the project’s developers, JDS Development.
designed by SHoP architects and interiors firm studio sofield, 111 west 57th street pays respect to its historic context with a ‘classically new york’ expression. the new building is rooted in the values built into steinway hall: its finely-tuned crafting of space and structure and the careful stitching of old and new. while sharing and formalizing these values with developers JDS development group, property markets group, and spruce capital partners, the design team at SHoP architects comments: ‘by pushing the historic building forward and moving the tower back we would be able to celebrate the history and at the same time create a new moment — a rebirth — for the old building and at the same time tell a new story of skyscrapers in the city.’